


On a Wish and a Smile

by HungryLibrary



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, ruby the love-struck dunce, you don't stop loving someone just because they probably don't like you back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-29
Updated: 2014-05-29
Packaged: 2018-01-26 11:17:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1686419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HungryLibrary/pseuds/HungryLibrary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She likes me… Probably not.</p><p>Maybe she likes me? Nope, definitely not…</p><p>Maybe she could like me someday-</p><p>“Ruby, will you please stop mutilating flowers and get back to work?”</p><p>-we’re never gonna happen</p>
            </blockquote>





	On a Wish and a Smile

_She likes me… Probably not._

_Maybe she likes me? Nope, definitely not…_

_Maybe she could like me someday-_

“Ruby, will you please  _stop_ mutilating flowers and get back to work?”

_-we’re never gonna happen._

 

A sigh ruffled the last remaining petal as Ruby straightened up in her seat.

“Sorry. What are we doing again?”

“A report on the history of the weapons manufacturing business and its connections to the Dust market.” Weiss shoved a pile of books across the table. “Which is due tomorrow, so get to work!”

Ruby winced at the irritation in her partner’s voice and shot her an apologetic look over the mountain of schoolwork.

Weiss didn’t see it though. The lines between her eyes deepened as she frowned at the paper before her, occasionally glancing up at the library wall-clock.

 _She’s pretty worried about this._ Ruby realized as she began sorting through references.  _I thought she’d have no trouble on an assignment about Dust, what with her family and everything, but…_

_Maybe that’s what making her worry? Maybe, since everyone is going to expect her to get it perfect, that makes it even scarier for her?_

Ruby watched out the corner of her eye as Weiss ran a distracted hand through her bangs and crossed out a whole paragraph she’d just spent ten minutes writing.

_She’s going to tear a hole through the paper if she doesn’t relax a bit. Hmm…_

Inspiration struck and Ruby picked up the mostly-bald flower from where it fallen.

“Hey Weiss-“

“Rgh…  _What?_ ”

Ruby gulped at the growl in Weiss’s voice as she glared across the table. Things between them were getting better, but the older girl could still be pretty scary.

“Uh-“  _No no Ruby, keep it cool! You can’t back down if this would really help!_  “.. Want to make a wish?”

“What.”

Ruby held out the half-dead flower for inspection.

“If you blow all the fluffs off a dandelion it’s supposed to grant you one wish-“

Weiss arched an eyebrow.

“This is  _not_  a dandelion.”

“Er, no. It’s a daisy. But I thought,” Wow, for all the sunshine outside it sure was getting chilly in here.

“I thought you could pull off the last petal and make a wish and… maybe it would kinda count?”

She leaned over to tuck the flower into Weiss’s hand, the older girl being too bemused to resist. 

“You could wish for luck on the report-“

Weiss’s fingers curled to crush the flower stem.

“ _I_ do not need luck for this assignment.” She snapped. “Certainly not any luck that comes of something as silly as  _wishes._ ”  

“Right! I meant you could wish for the rest of us!” Ruby lifted her hands in surrender as Weiss glowered suspiciously. “Blake will do great and I don’t think me or Yang are going to fail, but it can’t hurt if you pass on a bit your expertise to us anyway…”

“By wishing on the last wilted petal of a dead weed?”

“Daisy’s aren’t weeds, Weiss.” There was no strength behind Ruby’s protest though, she really didn’t feel like making this into a fight. It had been a stupid idea anyway.

“Forget it… Let’s just get back to work finishing this.”

With another sigh Ruby slumped forward and flipped a book open at random, hunting vaguely for mentions of Dust or weapons.

Maybe it was a good thing Weiss would never be interested in her. Weiss deserved someone who could actually  _help_  her from time to time, not a bumbling idiot with nothing but stupid kid ideas in her head.

The clock ticked. Pages cackled mockingly beneath Ruby’s fingers as she ghosted through them, at this rate she would be slaving over the report even after everyone else had gone to bed…

“How does this work?”

_Huh. Weiss’s voice sounds a lot softer than it was a second ago- Wait._

“Huh?”  

“I said.” Weiss rolled her eyes at Ruby’s stunned expression and held up the flower. “How does this make a wish on a flower thing  _work?_  Do I have to say my wish out loud right before I pluck the petal, or-“

“Ah, no!” Ruby gave her head an emphatic shake, still not sure she was hearing right.

“No. If you say the wish out loud it won’t come true, just like with birthday wishes, you know?”

“Hmm.” Weiss gave a dubious hum, her gaze staying fixed on the flower.

“So I just pull it off and then….”

“Release it.” Ruby mimed holding something carefully between two fingers and blowing it into the air. “Close your eyes and make your wish right as you do.”

“Okay, okay.”

With a groan Weiss lifted the flower to eye-level and delicately plucked off the petal, making sure it came off in one clean piece.

Ruby felt her face heat up as she watched Weiss turn into a shaft of sunshine and send the petal sailing among the dusty stars.

There was something memorizing about the deliberate way Weiss moved, how she paused before closing her eyes to check on the precise angle of her wrist, how she made sure to let the petal go at the exact moment her little puff of breath was at its strongest.

Even when doing something she thought was silly and pointless, Weiss did her best to do it right…

“Like that?”

With a blink Ruby came back to attention and quickly wrenched her eyes away before Weiss could catch her staring.

“Y-yeah! Perfect. You’re a natural wish-maker, Weiss.”

There was a dry chuckle as blue eyes followed the petal’s slow path to the floor.

“I already know that for a fact. I suppose it was also meant as a compliment, since it came from a dolt like you.”

Ruby felt her cheeks go even brighter red and hurried to hide behind a book.

Silence fell as they both went back to studying, and it was several minutes before Ruby dared peer over the top of her book again.

Weiss had pulled up a fresh page and was busily filling it with words. She still crossed stuff out from time to time, but never more than a word or two, and there was the faintest hint of a smile on her lips as she worked.

Ruby’s stomach did a few back flips as she ducked down to write the title of her own report, trying hard to cover her own sudden grin of delight.

_If she likes me or likes me not, maybe just being here for her in small ways is enough._

With a twist of her pen Ruby drew a little heart in the corner of her paper.

_It sure feels nice, anyway…_


End file.
